Breakfast

Happy (almost) Independence Day! Yay for three-day weekends. I love having celebratory breakfasts on holidays, but to be honest in the middle of July it’s so freaking hot the thought of cooking is almost impossible 90% of the time. What’s great about these waffles is not only are they chilled so you don’t feel too hot eating a warm meal, but they are also make ahead so you can wake up on your weekend, assemble and voila! And if you have kiddos, they will love helping to make these flags too!

Random fact about Angie: despite my general dislike of winter, I don’t think I could ever live in a place without it because I love the excitement and anticipation of changing seasons almost as much as simply enjoying the seasons themselves. For example, I love spring — the blossoms, sunshine, rainstorms, baby animals, the smell of new growth, and perfect temperatures that are not too hot or too cold. When it really comes down to it though, it’s the dramatic beauty of life coming back into an otherwise dead, ugly world that gets me excited every year. I love a good happy ending!

I know, you clicked on this article to read about iced coffee so you’re like WTF lady? But what goes with this transition to warm weather, fuzzy baby duckies, and sunshiney days better than your favorite cup filled with creamy, dark iced coffee bliss? Few things, my friends. Few things.

This time of year I always found myself pulling through the drive thru to indulge this love of iced coffee to feed my spring fever, but that got pricey over time. Over the last few years I have perfected my cold brew recipe to my liking and now make it a regular habit so I always have some stocked. I will make a big batch at a time and keep it in my fridge to last me 1-2 weeks. It makes filling up my cup so easy peasy in the morning and I can make it up to my liking while saving money from stopping at Starbucks or Beans and Brews.

The list of things you need and instructions may look long, but seriously do not let that stop you. Once you do it one time you will be able to do it again super speedily so don’t be intimidated! I will go into detail, but it’s basically three steps: 1) Mix water and coffee and wait a day. 2) Strain coffee. 3) Pour into a container. Done. This is the easiest, most worthwhile recipe ever.

What You’ll Need

1/2 lb ground coffee (I like dark roasts like French or Italian — but whatever you prefer)

16-17 cups water

2 large pots

wooden spoon

plastic wrap or lid to cover pot

a circular strainer that fits into a pot

ladel

cheese cloth

a sealable or screw top pitchers or large mason jars

Directions

Pour coffee grounds into a pot and pour room temperature or chilled water over the top. Stir with a spoon and cover for at least 24 hours (did I mention this is the easiest ever?). Prep the second pot and put circular strainer on top and cover with the cheese cloth. This will work as your coffee filter. Depending on your pot (and your strength) either pour or ladel the coffee from one pot to the other. Voila!

oh look at those glorious mountains

Now storage. I got these awesome screw top pitchers at Costco that are perfect since they seal in the flavor and can also be turned sideways so they don’t take up the entire top of your fridge. But since my toddler decided to break both of them, I actually just started storing in large mason jars which also works great. Now just pour, add in ice if you want, and cream, sugar, syrup — however you like your coffee. It’s almost too easy!

We can label springtime and brunch under “my favorite things” and since Easter brunch is coming up this weekend, I thought I would change up one of my favorites. I had a big bag of heirloom carrots that I didn’t want to go to waste, so I decided to use these sweet white and purple carrots in my carrot raisin muffins. They are not too sweet and with the cream cheese mixed right in, are moist with a nod to carrot cake. Perfect to leave for the Easter Bunny…that’s a thing right? Just like Santa? Because I could totally use these as a midnight snack. Ha!

Ingredients

2 cups grated carrots (the heirlooms are pretty, but this is also delish with regular orange carrots)

2 eggs

4 ounces softened cream cheese

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 cup coconut

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 cups flour

1/2 chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Using a grater or food processor, grate carrots in a bowl and set aside. In a mixer, blend eggs, cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add in carrots, coconut and cinnamon. Stir in baking soda, then add in flour a little at a time until well mixed and stir in nuts. Fill muffin tins with liners and spoon in about 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

I just signed up for my fifth half marathon — yay! When I am in training mode for a race or working out a lot, it’s all I can do sometimes to not constantly complain of being hungry. This is a good problem, right? But that being said, it can be a pain to constantly have this burden of needing to feed myself, so I look for high protein foods that are healthy, keep me full longer, and help strengthen the muscles I’m building. These banana protein muffins are an easy solution and I pop them all in a gallon sized bag in my freezer to make easy before or after workout snacks. YES!

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together banana, eggs, yogurt, and vanilla extract until well blended. Add protein powder, cinnamon, and baking powder. Slowly add oats about 1/2 cup at a time until you get a good consistency. Stir in flax seeds, chia seeds, nuts, raisins, or chocolate chips. Pour batter into lined baking cups about 2/3 full. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

My weekends always seem to fill up with one thing or another, so there are few things I love quite as much as just a lazy morning at home, rolling out of bed and making a homemade breakfast in my Jammies. Yes, I have a toddler, but this kid sure loves to sleep in. I actually think he would do it every day if I let him. Don’t worry, he makes up for that by not going to bed until 10:30 or 11 most days, but that’s another story.

Anyway so I decided this Saturday to whip up a little something special to celebrate the fact that we were at home and not going much of anywhere since we are attempting potty training this weekend. Eeek! These mixed berry muffins with crumble topping are divine!

This morning I came downstairs hungry and realized we had three ripe bananas that were begging to be made into something. Now normally I have a system for my bananas — if I have 2 ripe bananas I make pancakes, 3 I make bread and 4 I make my usual banana muffin recipe. But when I peeked in the fridge I realized we had no milk, no eggs and no butter. What’s a girl to do? So I experimented a bit and made these vegan banana muffins since we were out of everything! And my, are the moist and delish for being pretty healthy too. Whole grains + sunflower seeds, pecans, and flax seeds give them rich flavor…plus I added some chocolate chips, just for good measure.

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix together wet ingredients. I like to mash the bananas right in my Kitchenaid mixer before adding all the rest. Then add the remaining dry ingredients, followed by the nuts and seeds. Scoop into greased muffin pan and sprinkle a few nuts on top. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Makes 12-16 muffins.